Chapter Twenty-One #2
Sam rolled her eyes. “Easy, Romeo. If you can get me a license plate number off the black SUV that made a pickup outside this bar last night around midnight, I’ll find someone willing to kiss you square on the lips.”
“Wow, you know how to get things done, Lieutenant.” The commotion in the hallway caught his attention. “What’s going on out there?”
“Oh, I might’ve punched Ramsey in the face, causing him to fall backward down the stairs.”
Archie stared at her, agog. “You did what?”
“He had it coming. So about my video—can you look at it now?”
“Um, yeah, I suppose I can do that, but since you’re going to be arrested any minute, there’s probably no rush.”
“There’s a big rush. Our cop-murdering human trafficker grabbed two college girls in town for the inauguration. Time is not on our side.”
“Jesus. Let me see what I can do.” He took the thumb drive into his office, slid it into the computer port and got busy clicking away while monitoring two huge screens. “Around midnight you said?”
“Yeah,” Sam replied, hanging over his shoulder as he worked.
“Don’t breathe on me.”
“I’m not breathing on you.”
“So you ready for tomorrow?”
“I guess. How does one get ready for that circus?”
“I’d have no idea,” he said, chuckling between clicks. “I still can’t believe you’re married to the VP.”
“Neither can I. Not entirely sure how that happened.” She leaned in closer to one of the screens. “That. There. Zoom in.”
He did as directed and zeroed in on a Virginia license plate number.
“That’s it! I could kiss you right now!”
“But you won’t.”
“But I won’t.”
He wrote down the license number and handed it to her.
“If you could also isolate the video of our guy Androzzi and his buddy escorting them from the bar, I’d appreciate it.”
“I’m on it. I’ll bring it down when I have it.”
“Thanks, Archie.” Sam used her cell phone to call Freddie. “Run a plate for me.”
“Did you punch Ramsey and push him down the stairs?”
“I punched him. The stairs were on him, not me.”
“Oh my God, Sam.”
“Shut up about Ramsey and run this Virginia plate right now.” She gave him the numbers. “I’ll be down when the coast is clear.”
Sam headed out of the now-deserted IT department to a crowd gathered in the hallway.
At the bottom of the stairs, Ramsey was screaming about having her badge while paramedics tended to him.
Damn it. He’d survived the fall. Sam scooted around the crowd and across the hall into the SVU division, which was also deserted. Detective Erica Lucas greeted her.
“I hear you’ve been up to no good, Lieutenant,” she said with a gleam in her eye that made Sam smile.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You want some ice for those knuckles?” Erica asked, nodding to Sam’s right hand, which had begun to throb.
“Wouldn’t say no to that.”
“Right this way.” Erica led her into a small kitchenette and filled a baggie with ice that she handed to Sam.
“Thanks. We’re overdue for that coffee we were going to have.”
“I just brewed a fresh pot. Could I interest you in a cup?”
“Since I’m stuck up here until they get the trash off the stairs, I’d love one.”
Erica snorted with laughter. “Did you push him down the stairs?”
Sam placed the bag of ice over her right hand. “I might’ve punched him, and he might’ve fallen, but I didn’t technically push him down the stairs.”
“What did he say this time?”
“Something about how surprised he was that Stahl didn’t knock the starch out of me or some such thing.”
Erica stared at her, mouth open. “Well good for you. I would’ve punched him, too. He’s such a prick.”
“So you’ve said. Are you safe to talk here about what you know?”
“Since you put a big hurt on him and there’s no chance of him walking in here and overhearing me say that I’ve been concerned by how much he hates you. He goes off about you at least once a week, if not more.”
“Any idea why?”
“He talks a lot about nepotism and things being handed to you because of who your old man was and all the attention you’ve gotten because of your marriage. He says you’re an attention whore.” She grimaced. “Sorry, don’t shoot the messenger.”
“I’ve been called worse. Just this morning in fact.”
Erica laughed. “I’m sure you have. The thing that concerns me with Ramsey is how vicious he is about you.
Like you took a spot that should’ve been his when we both know that wasn’t true.
He’s failed the lieutenant’s exam as many times as he’s taken it.
His career is dead in the water because of him, not you. ”
“Can’t tell him that, though.”
“Nope.”
“Stahl was like that, too. Always blaming me and others for issues he brought upon himself. Typical narcissist. The old-boy network can’t bear to see women getting ahead and doing better than them.”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since everything happened with Stahl. I hope you know most of us were horrified by what he did and very thankful you got through it.”
“Thanks. I had a ton of support from people here that helped. I never did get a card from Ramsey though.”
Erica smiled. “I doubt you’ll get one now that you’ve punched him in the face.”
“Oh well. And I had such hope for our relationship.”
“Listen, Sam… I hope it’s okay if I call you that.”
“Of course it is. I’m not hung up on pretense around friends.”
“The thing is… He’s got his nuts in a twist over you, and that’s not going to get better after what happened today. I know I don’t have to tell you how to watch out for yourself, but be careful.”
“Your warning is well taken. I’m running low on enemies with Stahl out of the picture and my ex-husband on a string of remarkably good behavior lately. I’d hate to get bored and lazy.”
“That would be a travesty.”
“I appreciate the heads-up, the coffee and the ice, but I need to get back downstairs. Hopefully, they’ve cleaned up the roadkill in the stairwell by now.”
“Don’t quote me on this,” Erica said, glancing toward the door to the kitchen nervously, “but you might want to look into Ramsey’s role in providing inside info to Stahl during the Springer case, not to mention the possibility that he was the one who tipped off Billy Springer that we were on to him for the murders of his brother and the others. ”
“What do you know?”
“Nothing concrete, but he was acting weird and secretive for a couple of weeks there, beginning with the final days of the Springer investigation. It seemed to end after everything blew up with Stahl. I heard you suspected he was getting inside info, and I immediately thought of Ramsey and his odd behavior.”
“Did anyone else witness it?”
“You might want to talk to his partner, Harper. He’s a straight-up guy and though he’s never said so, he dislikes Ramsey as much as the rest of us do.
Ramsey’s a bully, and Harper is his favorite target.
It drives Ramsey mad that Harper idolizes you.
He thinks you’re a badass and says so every chance he gets, which takes Ramsey right over the edge.
If Harper knows anything, I think he’d give it up under the right circumstances. ”
“This is very good to know, Erica. I appreciate it.”
“We girls have to stick together around here.”
“You’re goddamned right we do.” A thought occurred to her then, and she took a second to weigh it out before she shared it with Erica. “Unfortunately, a spot has opened up in my squad. If you were to apply for a transfer, I’d do what I could to make it happen. If you’re interested that is.”
“I’d love to work for you. My only hesitation would be leaving SVU for Homicide. I feel like I’m making a real difference for the victims here. Not that you don’t in Homicide, but my victims are usually still alive, you know?”
“I do know exactly what you mean. Think about it. Nothing is going to happen soon. We’ve got a funeral to get through before we can even begin to think about replacing him.”
“I’m so sorry for all of you. He was a good guy.”
“Yes, he was. Well, I’d better get back to it. Thanks for the coffee and everything else.”
“Anytime.”